MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Issues Earnings Results

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22, Zacks reports. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS.

MSCI Trading Down 4.9 %

MSCI stock traded down $31.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $597.31. The stock had a trading volume of 252,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,360. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $606.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $581.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.85.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.